Pix #5 - Mary Palmer Rogers, seated in her Tuscon garden,
now a grassy area of the University of Arizona campus.

Pix #6 - John B. Rogers

Many readers will remember the Palmer house which once
was located where the Episcopal Church (See picture) is now at Tiffin
and Union Streets. In later years, the John B. Rogers family lived
there.

There are three people inparticular who have found intimate
memories about the house and the people who inhabitied it. They are
John Palmer Rogers, Tucson, Arizona, Alice Laipply and her daughter
Mrs. Don (Mary Elizabeth) Huffman, Fostoria.

Palmer Rogers, as he was better known, son of John B.
and Mary E. (Palmer) Rogers was born in Fostoria and lived all his
life in the house prior to the time when he and his mother moved to
Arizona for health reasons.

LIVING FOSTORIAN WAS HOUSEKEEPER

Mrs. Laipply was housekeeper for the Rogers family for
13 1/2 years, and Mrs. Huffman spent much time in the house when she
was a child. In fact, she was considered so much a part of the Rogers
family that they wanted to adopt her and pay for her education.

Interviewing Mrs. Huffman and discussing the old house
and the Rogers family brought tears to her eyes many times. Mrs. Rogers
was a second mother to me and I loved her very much, Mrs. Huffman
said. Not only that, but Mrs. Huffman was named Mary Elizabeth after
Mrs. Rogers.

The house is referred to as The Palmer House, since
it was the family home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Palmer, the parents
of Mrs. John B. Rogers. Mrs. Rogers was reared in the house and was
the last of the Palmer family to reside there. The one accompanying
photo shows and identifies the Palmer family.

ABOUT PALMER ORIGINAL OWNER

According to Palmer Rogers, his grandfather and wife,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Palmer, had grown in poverty on a farm near
Gower, MO., during the Civil war days and in later years had a horror
of any ostentatious display of wealth.

Mr. Palmer in later years was a minor officer in the
Dewey Stave Co., based in Toledo. His duties consisted of overseeing
a number of small factories located not far from Fostoria, mostly
along the B&O railroad. The factories manufactured barrel parts, largely
for the American Sugar Co. (now Star Corporation) which had been founded
by Mr. Palmer's brother in New York City.

HOUSE SOME READERS WILL RECALL

The house had a fence on the one side and front of the
house and an iron fence on the Tiffin and Union Streets side. During
World War II, when scrap metal was needed, the Rogers donated the
fence for the war effort, even though they hated to part with it.

The two front doors, shaped round, with curved glass,
opened on a hallway to the stairway leading to the second floor. It
also provided access to the five rooms on the first floor, plus bath
and pantry. All woodwork throughout the house had natural finished.

There were five bedrooms on the second floor and a stairway
which led to a full attic. There was also a stairway from the attic
which led to an area on the roof, surrounded by an iron fence, which
permitted a place for sunning and airing.

One of Mrs. Huffman's recollections pertains to the
dining room. Under the large dining table was foot-actuated button
which rang a bell in the kitchen to summon the person in charge of
service. And the table was always formally set with napkins held by
silver rings.

Mrs. Huffman also recalls the large mirror in one of
the living rooms. It was three or four feet wide and extended from
floor to ceiling. She said it gave the illusion of an entrance to
another room and often visitors would bump into it.

Palmer Rogers recalls that there were several beds and
bureaus in the house that wouls be considered antiques today.

HUFFMAN RECALLS HOUSE AND PEOPLE

Mrs. Huffman's memories go back to the time when she
was about three or four years old and later in her teens when she
visited there.

She called John B. Rogers "uncle John" and Mrs. Rogers
"Ollie Goodie" but doesn't know how the latter came about. She also
recalls that Mrs. Rogers was an accomplished pianist, and often played
a particular tune which was just right for skipping all through the
downstairs of the spacious house. "Ollie Goodie liked to whistle",
she said, "and was really a good whistler". the piano was a babygrand.

Palmer Rogers and Carl Vogel (deceased), a very close
friend, always vied for the privilege of pushing little Mary Elizabeth
in a reed baby buggy.

Mrs. Huffman also recalls that Palmer participated in
pranks which "scared me to death". One was making human skelatons
of paper, suspending them so they could be illuminated and jiggled
to motion. She said another prank was to use rubber insects and spiders
to scare her. Carolyn Cunningham Karg lived close by and is remembered
as a friend.

CARRIAGE HOUSE HOUSED AUTOMOBILES

The property also boasted a brick structure in the rear,
which originally was a carriage house prior to the advent of automobiles.
Later it housed an all-electric car, as well as one powered by a gasoline
engine.

Mrs. Huffman recalls riding in the electric model. "Very
quiet", she said, "and guided not with the conventional steering wheel
of today, but with an L-shaped rod which moved right or left".

When the Episcopal Church purchased the Palmer property
for their new location, the old carriage house was used until the
new church building was completed.

The Rogers family and presumably the Palmers before
them, employed a gardener to take care of the lawn and garden and
another man to do odd jobs and keep things in repair. On one occasion,
Mrs. Huffman recalls that she was spending some time with the Rogers
during the summer, her bathing suit got wet, so she took it off and
was playing in the nude. The gardener discovered the plight and hurried
her into the house to get dressed.

AMOS AND ANDY VISITED FOSTORIA

One recollection of Mrs. Huffman's sticks in her memory
and is one which will be informative to all readers. Many readers
will remember Amos and Andy of radio fame, but not many know that
htye got their start with John B. Rogers Co. in one of the shows they
produced. According to Mrs. Huffman, the two radio comedians often
visited in the John Rogers home of today's article. On one of those
occasions, little Mary Elizabeth was there and sat on the lap of either
Amos or Andy...she doesn't remember which now.

The closeness of Mrs. Rogers to Mrs. Laippy and Mrs.
Huffman is expressed several other ways: the George Freese family
lived next to the Rogers, where the Hoening Funeral Home is now. Mr.
Freese tried to hire Mrs. Laipply to work for them at an increase
in salary, but was told that the excellent treatment and friendly
relationship with the Rogers would not allow her to consider, even
for more salary.

When Mrs. Rogers and Palmer moved to Arizona, Mrs. Laipply
was invited to visit them, which she did for a lengthy period. Mrs.
Huffman said after she had grown, Mrs. Rogers always remembered her
with a Christmas gift and kept in touch, as long as she lived.

94-YEAR-OLD FAMILY MEMBER STILL LIVES

The only person shown in the family picture who is still
living is Myrtle Jamison Trachsel, St. Joseph, MO. (identified in
the photo). According to Palmer Rogers, she is about 94 years old.
She shows no sign of senility and still enjoys an active social life.
For many years she was an author of children's books, actually historical
novels with juvenile characters. Mr. and Mrs. John B. Rogers have
been dead for many years.

I have remembered the house of today's story for many
years and wanted to do a story about it , but lacked the essential
element, a picture of it. It was found among photos in possession
of the Episcopal Church when I was doing research for that article.
Earlier, Mrs. Huffman, a regular Potluck reader, had told me that
her mother Mrs. Laipply had worked for the Rogers. It was then that
I knew, I had another story.